Cosmically dreamy ensemble combining experimental classical space influences with that 70's underground German psychedelia. "Dreamlab" was MYTHOS' 2nd album, from 1975, and was originally released on Cosmic Couriers. "Dreamlab" is somewhere between YATHA SIDRA and ASH RA TEMPEL with some ethnic percussion carrying a earthy feel throughout. Vocals are in English but are not used all that often (and that is a good thing) as the strength of this music is clearly in the instrumentation. I treat this album as a classic and regard it highly as a tremendous piece of work. Moog and Mellotrons also help create those lush analog atmospheres which when combined with the array of hand drums and electric guitar accents will put you into a permanent "Dreamlab".

Discography:Visions of a Trespasser (XMMS-1 1989)Visions of a Trespasser box (XMMS-1 1989)The Unknown (XMMS-2 1991)Claustromania (MS-3-XMLP-1 1991)Visions of a Trespasser 2nd Edition (XMMS-1 1993)Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)Reviews:S.T. MIKAEL: Visions of a TrespasserRecorded in his bedroom and it´s so beautiful! Best psych album since the early 70´s! - Stefan Dimle, Mellotronen, Sweden

This basement acid tripper exists briefly in the real world of vinyl! Folk rocky melodic elements flow with waves of heavy fuzzphase leads. A weird detached haunted vocal echoes over the band and the whole thing seems to teeter on the brink of psychedelic oblivion’s. Not revival either. One of the big unearthings in resent memory. Joyride thru an altered state! – Monster time! - Paul Mayor, X-tabay/Parallel World, USA

This is so mind twisting, soul swirling, upper psychedelia that your third eye takes you on a cosmic journey through the dark ages of Serpents, glimpses of Gyrax, the land of Fauns, the mystic Orient, dark forests, angels of doom and the dreams of Eternity...this is some of the places and events the Saint brings you to on his masterpiece. I give you a 100 % money back guarantee if you don`t love this album! - Jorn Andersen, Rock Garden, Norway

Incredible mind blowing psyche! The best album of the last years...only 150 copies made and destined to the highest ranks of collectordom! -Walter Geertzen, Belgium.

ST Mikael...distorts instruments other people don’t even dream of using and displays a cunning understanding of vocal phrasing and harmony as well as playing the hell out of his guitar in a really nice, understated way... -Ptolemaia Terrascope, England

S.T. MIKAEL: Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)”A new album by the Swedish multi-instrumentalist ST Mikael...with a hand painted cover and a colorful booklet filled with drawings, comics and a picture story about Evolution on Earth. It’s impossible to compare him and his music with any other group or artist. On this record he plays guitars, sitars, turkish saz, drums, congas, tablas, organ, moog and does all the vocals. Some of the best tracks here is in that new, truly original style he has made his own. He will probably be one of the future-legends of the Psychedelic Music...” -Old Man Willow, Norway

”His 4th LP makes new references between the electric and acoustic instruments, which contributes to the new consciousness condensing the moments of insight!” - Rockerilla, Italy

S.T. MIKAEL: Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)"This double LP is the best album he ever released, but it’s his most unconventional as well. The four sides of "Soul Flower" all bear a different character: Side A is more or less the S.T: Mikael we know from previous LPs: the melancholic psychedelic singer/songwriter who records all his twisted songs on his home equipment with a skill and a passion seldom demonstrated elsewhere. Highlights here are the pounding "Godly" and the moody "Beyond the Haze". Side B is the strangest but also one of the best. ST Mikael experimented with Turkish ethnical instruments and musical style elements, resulting in the magnificent title track, the intriguing "The Titans" and the exotic, fuzzy "The Turkish Flower". Side C brings songs from one session and it shows ST Mikael in a very emotional, spiritual mood; he sings and plays his songs with the intensity of a young Tim Buckley. Highlights here are the long, semi-instrumental "Moving...Together" and the elegant "She Came With The Spring". Side D only features two tracks; the dreamy, soft "The Night Stars" and "Summer In My Life", a long jam (filling almost the entire side) recorded in the In Deep-studio with backing by Adam Axelzon and other friends."/" All of this resulted in an utterly stoned, mind lifting instrumentation with layers of exotic percussion, sitars going overdrive, spacy keyboards and burning guitar lines, an absolute best on an album full of high-quality psychedelics. ST Mikael proved once again to be a gifted songwriter and an unconventional performer with a very personal ear for acoustics and an emotional honesty seldom seen these days." – Crohinga Well/Belgium

VISIONS OF THE UNKNOWNHere at last is a chance for the world to join in, and pick up some bonus tracks along the way. His recording has a homemade charm with wah-wah fuzz guitars, keyboards, sitars and primitive psychedelic effects. You do get the feeling that Mikael actually lives the lifestyle rather than just emulating it. His soaring vocals, surreal lyrics, fragile, folky melodies and penchant for the spiritual and mystical make this altogether a fascinating voyage. – Record Collector magazine (UK)

THE STORY OF S.T. MIKAEL

Mikael Sundtsröm (aka S.T. Mikael) was born in Södertälje, Sweden March the 27th, 1963. His father was a jazz swinging plumber and his mother was an innocent forest girl. He was a lonely, introspective boy who developed a bizarre imagination and an obsession for everything odd, mysterious and supernatural in life. His head was filled with images from Sci/Fi-Fantasy and Horror movies and books, but he also built his own dream worlds with creatures, characters, phantoms and prehistoric images in his drawings, comics and short stories. At 15 he picked up his mothers old guitar and started improvising and recording music. At the age of 19 - in 1982, he tried to find members for a group, but it took him until 1985 when he joined a garage-combo called ”Dickie Dickhead and the Outcast” as a lead guitarist. Although it brought many laughs and good fun into his heart and the fact that they developed from ”the worst and unintentionally most absurd band in town” to a serious and expressive experimental rock band, he left after two struggling years to form his own group. The trio ”The Twilight Souls” , was where he could sing and play his own compositions. He tried to fuse heavy rock and soul music with psychedelic influences which can be heard on the title track of his ”Unknown”-album. During this time he searched for the psychedelic experience and took his first dose of LSD. Because of exhaustion and inability to secure any gigs the band broke up in 1988. After this he gave up the rock´n roll band dream, understanding that there wasn’t anyone in town that had the same psychedelic ambitions as he had. With no expectations for the future he continued working with his ideas and primitive home recordings.

In 1989 he moved to Stockholm where he met Stefan Kéry, a psychedelic connoisseur, and gave him a cassette with some of his many recordings. To Mikaels great surprise he found that the tape was received with great enthusiasm and an album was soon made out of that very tape. The album was titled ”Visions Of A Trespasser” and was released early 1990 in an edition of 150 copies only. The album cover featured a colorful, organic vortex with images of beings of the galaxy in it painted by Mikael. Each and every record had differently hand painted labels. The album was mainly distributed among friends. It showed his very personal style of music covering all kinds of musical directions, all laced with the psychedelic sound. Among these ”not-meant-to-be-heard-by-others”-recordings you will find unbelievable sound’s from tea-balls, spoons and boilers. Except for the 3 studio tracks which was recorded together with a friend, he played everything himself - singing through his guitar-amp and using a pitched guitar for a bass.

In March 1991 he released his follow-up, ”The Unknown” , an odd home cassette- collection with new old haunting songs. The album was distributed the same way as the first one.

After forming Xotic Mind Productions Stefan Kéry let him go into a 8-channal studio and Mikael built up a whole new album all by himself (the only way he knew to work) step-by-step, beginning with the drums and nothing else but except a good memory! The result: ”Claustromania” (meaning: manic obsession for locking oneself in, which derives from the introspective state of mind he always go into while creating!) . The music is filled with pulsating, organic expressions, always emotionally gripping with his soulful voice. The album has a circular concept: The songs about other worlds, man against infinity and the human mind, soul and spirit are linked together with small musical inventions building a story that never ends, ending the way it started, starting the way it ended. The composition also reflects his past life of loneliness and emptiness that now has been replaced by a new existence of love, happiness and possibilities. Mikael says “Claustromania” also is an homage to LSD which helped him make the transformation possible.

His creative years had only begun. In 1994 Mikael wrote a book with novellas in the horror-fantasy tradition crammed with drawings done during the last 15 years and drawn, copied and shaped 4 volumes of comic-fanzines - all still available in Swedish only! He acted in a 16mm film and in his own 3 fantasy video films as well as taking acting- and dancing- lessons! During the years he has been invited to participate on other Xotic Mind projects, like playing sitar on Adam Axelzons well-received ”Eura”album and with sitar and Tablas on the ”Gnostic Mass”-LP by The Entheogens, an improvisation-group he joined together with Adam Axelzon, Måns ”Word of Life”Månson and Stefan Kéry, among others.

In January 1994, people Xotic Mind released S.T. Mikaels new album ”Psychocosmic Songs” which was even better received than any of his previous LPs. The LP was recorded in a modern, high-tech studio. This time the tracks was a mixture of acoustic and electric singer-songs painted with sitar and tabla jams, heavy fuzz guitar sessions and airy, pulsating sounds done in the same step- by-step method like Claustromania! Although it is serious and soulful in tone, ST Mikael himself says he misses the playfulness and vitality which is more prominent in his home recordings.

In the spring of 1994 ST Mikael was living in a rented house with a beautiful garden of fruits, berries and flowers. For the first time he found an immediate presence of self confidence and also a more emotional and limitless way to express himself. In changing direction from somewhat stylish compositions to more improvised-on-the-spot creations he found that the happiness of a live-performance could be caught on a Pot-induced multi tracked solo recording.

During 1994 he made a huge collection of organic home recordings, far away from any inexperienced studio-technician, planning to release some of the material as a new album. With the addition of the extended studio track ”Summer In My Life” , which was recorded by an experienced crew and with additional musicians like Adam Axelzon. Xotic Mind released it in 1996 as a double-album - titled Soul Flower. As always - with a homemade painting on the cover. It can be seen as a rock opera without a plot, an invitation to a small living room full of impressions of many far away places.

During the years that passed since that album, St Mikael seemed to become more secretive and reclusive, but still making home-made music. Some of this music, still stretching out in many different musical directions,has been done freely and spontaneously in an extremely relaxed and happy environment, and has been compiled into the home-made double CD "Mind Evolution", which is not really an official album.In the last few years, Mikael has renewed his lifestyle, has found love in Cheska, an American woman, and has travelled around in Europe, and recently in the USA. He has also taken up studies in English and Playstation 2. Anyhow, he has not stopped doing what he has been doing since a young teenager. He plays in a halfimprovising trio called "Just Beyond" featuring guitar, drums, vocals and bambooflute. The projects of the future includes, besides a brand new album, a Best Of CD, and more comic books.

Bob Jackson (born 1949, Coventry, England), is a keyboardist/guitarist whose career has been interwoven with various rock and pop bands since the early 1970s.

Jackson formed his first professional rock group in 1969, called "Indian Summer". The group released the album Indian Summer in 1971, and then disbanded the following year.

John Entwistle of the Who wanted to tour in 1972 with his own band. He therefore formed anew band "Rigor Mortis" in 1972 Bob Jackson was the keyboard player of this group and Alan Ross was the guitarist. Both played on their debut tour.

Once the "Rigor Mortis" tour had ended Bob Jackson and fellow bandmate Alan Ross decided to put together their own group in 1973, calling themselves "Ross" and recorded two albums on RSO Records; "Ross" in 1974 and "The Pit and the Pendulum" 1975. This hard rock group failed to capture an audience and disbanded after the release of its second album.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Deviants - 1969 - No. 3track list01 Billy the Monster02 Broken Biscuits03 First Line04 The People's Suite05 Ramblin Black Transit Blues06 Death of a Dream Machine07 Playtime08 Black George Does It09 Junior Narco Rangers10 People of the City11 Metamorphosis Exploration~-~-~Mick Farren - Lead Vocals & ProductionRussell Hunter - Percusion, Vocals & Stereo PanningPaul Rudolph - Guitar, Vocals & Mouth MusicDuncan Sanderson - Bass & VocalsTony Wigens - Equipment & Lead Vocals on "First Line"David Goodman - Equipment & Back-Up VocalsTony Ferguson - OrganJenny Ashworth - VocalsRoy Baker & Victor Gamm - EngineeringKeith Morris - Photography~-~-~In The Same Time Space that it took to Record this Album, A 16-year-old Girl was Imprisoned by the Rulers For Refusing To Deny that She Loved A Married Man. In The Same Time Space A Vacant Lot In Berkeley, CA, was Transformed Into a People's Park; When the Rulers Re-occupid the Park Subsequently One Died and Hundreds were Injured and Arrested. In The Same Time Space the Rulers Arrested and Imprisoned Hundreds Throughout the World For Inhaling the Smoke of the Common Herb. Also In The Same Time Space, 70,000 People Gathered in A London Park for A Rock & Roll Consert. For the Past 13 Years Rock & Roll Has Been the Secret Language of A Generation, Dispite Lapses Into Gibberish and Side-Tracks Into Academic Obscurity. Rock & Roll Is A Secret Language that the Rulers Cannot Understand. It Is Possible For One Person To Communicate with Another On More Than One Level; You Can Talk To Each Other; You Can Feed Each Other; You Can Screw Each Other. Everyone Is A Level Of Communication And the Rock Musisian Is Able to Work In Terms of All This Levels. The Rock Musician Is Not Understood By the Rulers since they Use Only Multi-Level Communication to Pervert and Titillate. They Fear Him, But since He Is Marketable Commodity (Product?) they Allow Him To Continue.MICK FARREN, 1969

The third and, for the time being, final Deviants album is also, according to frontman Mick Farren, the record that they should never have made. Writing in his 2001 autobiography, -Give the Anarchist a Cigarette, Farren observes that even the album's title encapsulated the group's state of mind -- "so creatively tapped out we couldn't even come up with a snappy name for the damned record." He is being harsh. While The Deviants, No. 3 can in no way be compared to either of its predecessors, or to Farren's own magnificent solo album Mona, it is still a fascinating glimpse into the state of the British underground in 1969. A few of the songs are indeed as unrehearsed (and certainly undeveloped) as Farren has since complained -- "Death of a Dream Machine" is little more than a jingle, when it ought to be a masterpiece. But it's also a considerably more coherent album than the group's speed-freak monster mash reputation might allow you to expect, and it doesn't even sound that horribly dated. At its most seething, "Billy the Monster," the sinister Zappa-esque chant with which the album opens, captures the archetypal hippie-freak. Then, skip over the somewhat Airplane-y "Broken Biscuits" and "First Line," and you reach "The People's Suite" -- and what could be more brilliant than a suite that lasts just two and a half minutes? "We are the people who pervert your children, lead them astray from the lessons you taught them": Again, Zappa hangs heavy over the proceedings, but if the tabloids of the day ever needed to have their worst fears confirmed, the Deviants were pleased to oblige. Musically, The Deviants, No. 3 hangs in a void somewhere between the early Edgar Broughton Band, with whom they enjoyed the wildest rivalry, and the incipient Pink Fairies, to which all the members bar Farren soon fled. Culturally, however, it is a brutal reminder of that moment when the '60s dream teetered on the brink of the precipice, and the planet went to hell in a handcart around it.~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Anyway this is my favouriteDeviants album

Much influenced by Bob Dylan, who was his friend in Greenwich Village, David Blue (aka David Cohen) was in the wave of singers/songwriters who moved away from folk into topical songs. (Comparable with, say, Richard Farina, Tom Rush or Eric Andersen.) His first album is truly excellent and explores the ways opened by Dylan with Highway 61 and Blonde And Blonde: poetic songs with a strong electric back-up, often with strident guitar solos. Check out Justine, It Tastes Like Candy, If Your Monkay Can't Get It or Arcade Love Machine. Three of these songs can also be heard on Jim and Jean's Changes (also with Harvey Brooks and Paul Harris).Blue then moved to California and his following albums are in the singer/songwriter style, often using excellent musicians (Cooder, Lindley, Barbata, Dave Mason, Levon Helm or Dylan).David Blue died in 1983.(Stephane Rebeschini)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Track List :01. Romain 6:11(Ace/John/Jones/Leonard/Williams)02. Country Girl 3:08(Ace/Leonard)03. Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes?04. The Lions Are Having A Draw 12:52(Ace/Jones)05. Daughter of the Fireplace 5:11(Leonard)06. Alchemist 20:41(Ace/John/Jones/Leonard/Williams)

The group that has been called the Welsh answer to the Grateful Dead actually earn the nickname on this album. There are definite similarities, including both bands' evident affection for American country and roots music, sprightly rock tunes, and extended and rambling instrumental jams. The example of the last on this album is rather self-indulgent; {"Would the Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions Are Having a Draw"} has little going for it besides its title and a nice crescendo near the end. The other extended track, "The Alchemist," is at least interestingly weird, sounding like the band has been listening to lots of old horror movie scores before going into the studio for a long jam session. Other cuts here are essential to Man fans, such as the frantic rockabilly tune "Daughter of the Fireplace," in which the band seems to be channeling Jerry Lee Lewis and "Country Girl," which could have been cut in Nashville instead of Swansea. Man was definitely exploring musical boundaries on this album, and even if every cut isn't successful, it is still a fun listen.~Richard Foss, All Music Guide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BiographyMan was one of the most promising rock bands to come out of Wales in the early 1970s. Along with Brinsley Schwarz, they helped establish the core of the pub-rock sound, but they played louder and also had a progressive component to their work that separated them from many of their rivals. The group originated as a Four Seasons-cum-Beach Boys vocal outfit, based in Swansea, Wales, called the Bystanders, who began experimenting with a tougher, more progressive sound on stage. They were encouraged to pursue this direction, and Man was formed -- Micky Jones (lead guitar, vocals), Deke Leonard (guitar, vocals), Clive John (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Ray Williams (bass), and Jeff Jones (drums).

Their first release, Revelation, issued in 1969 on Pye, was a concept album that yielded a successful European single, "Erotica," which contained the sound of an orgasm and thus failed to chart in England. Their second album, 2 Ozs. of Plastic With a Hole In the Middle, showed a slightly new direction for the band, with a nearly live-in-the-studio sound and more creative interplay between the guitars, that some critics compared to early Quicksilver Messenger Service and other West Coast bands. Deke Leonard, in particular, whose playing was heavily influenced by Mick Green of the Pirates, became the star of the group by popular acclaim.

Their contract with Pye Records ended in 1969, and the group signed with United Artists-Liberty, with a new rhythm section, consisting of Terry Williams on drums and vocals and Martin Ace playing bass. Their third album, Man, was a critical success, and their follow-up, 1971's Do You Like It Here, Are You Settling In, yielded several popular concert numbers.

In February 1972, the group appeared at the Greasy Truckers' Ball, a benefit concert held in London that was taped for posterity, alongside Brinsley Schwarz and Hawkwind. Their performance was so impressive that United Artists chief Andrew Lauder (who was also responsible for helping the post-Roy Loney Flamin' Groovies get their sound together) encouraged them to do a full live album. The result was Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth, the band's breakthrough album, even though it was originally released in a limited-edition pressing of 8000 copies. The album became a much-sought collector's item in England, and suddenly the group had the attention of most of the record-buying public.

Unfortunately, it was at after the release of that album that Deke Leonard decided to exit the lineup to pursue a solo career, which he launched with the successful album Iceberg. Man was making a reputation for itself, their next album Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day yielding some good songs ("Bananas"). At that point, Pye released a retrosepctive of their first two albums, while the group's current lineup began shifting again -- Deke Leonard was back for Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics, and Slow Motion led to the group's first American tour. They followed this up with their first serious misstep, a hook-up with Quicksilver's John Cippolina as producer for what proved a disappointing album, Maximum Darkness. The Welsh Connection, released by MCA in 1976, marked the end of the original group's history, although they did get one more album out, entitled All's Well That Ends Well.

During the 1980s, Micky Jones reunited the group and those interested members (including Deke Leonard) and found a steady living on the pub-rock circuit. Meanwhile, Terry Williams went on to join Rockpile and Dire Straits. Interest in Man was strong enough to justify the release of a compilation, Perfect Timing -- The UA Years, in 1991. In the mid-1990s, Beat Goes On began reissuing Man's individual albums and Deke Leonard's solo work on compact disc.~Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Colder than the KissCalling YouSomething WrongMore than the OceanClintLook East for EdenStrangersCrimson and CloverI'm Not AfraidIn FluxColder than the KissCalling You

The story...The Snake Corps came together in 1984 following the break-up of Sad Lovers & Giants (SL&G) the previous year.Aiming for a harder-edged sound, core members Tristan Garel-Funk and Nigel Pollard advertised in the Melody Maker for the necessary musicians. After many auditions they settled on Marc Lewis and Liam McGuinness on vocals and bass respectively. This original incarnation set about establishing its own sound - recording demos of songs later to appear on the band’s albums as well as a video of Look East for Eden at Kingston Poly where Marc was a student.After some initial success building a local following and reconnecting with many of the fans of SL&G, Nigel left the band and was replaced by Jon Greville from the three-piece Rudimentary Peni. This line up went into record the first album: Flesh on Flesh, released on Midnight Music.Tours in europe helped to build and consolidate the band's following, but at home the story was one of press and radio indifference.Feeling a need to broaden the scope of the Snake Corps sound the band decided to add keyboards. This resulted in the return of school friend and SL&G founder member David Wood. With the addition of Jim Blanchard from label-mates The S-Haters replacing Liam on bass guitar, this line-up recorded the band's second album Smother Earth.More gigs followed but UK recognition continued to elude the Snake Corps despite growing interest from around the world; the bulk of the band's record sales going overseas.David Wood eventually quit the band and Ian Gibson (recently having left the Mk2 version of SL&G) replaced him on keyboards.Free of their contract with Midnight Music but with their commitment to release the next album as a one-off, this line-up went in (at their own expense) to record The 3rd Cup at Midnight-owned Berry Street Studios. With Brad Grisdale at the controls, it seemed for the first time there was a creative meeting of minds between the band and their engineer. The result was what many consider to be the Snake Corps finest album.But behind the scenes all was not well. Continuing UK indifference to their music had left spirits at an all time low and it was feared that the album would be released into a vacuum. Then, after years of financial hardship Midnight Music went into receivership and was bought up lock stock and barrel by Cherry Red Records. The band suddenly found that all their music: back catalogue, stock and copyright was now owned by someone else. This proved too much and the Snake Corps split. It seemed that the best-of compilation Spice subsequently released by Cherry Red would probably be the band's swan-song.Thankfullly, the finished master tapes of The 3rd Cup were already in the band's possession when Midnight went under but it was to be couple of years before the album was finally released on CD by Ophidian an off-shoot of the Oxford label Rotator.

info obtained from : snakecorps.com

innocent76's comment:

Great band ! Worthy bairn of Sad Lovers & Giants . "Clint" is one of my personal highlights of this era. Reminds me a little bit of Vietnam Veterans (especially the keyboards) ,but this is a good thing ,right ?

The roots of Camel can be already found in 1969 when guitarist/flute player/vocalist Andrew Latimer (born on May 17, 1947), bassist Doug Ferguson and only 14-year-old drummer Andy Ward met in the band The Brew as a trio. In 1970, the trio teamed up with singing keyboardist and changed the name according to him to Phillip Goodhand – Tait. But at the end of the same year, Phillip quit the band. In May of 1971, Peter Bardens, a keyboard player (ex Them), came to strengthen the orphaned trio. The new quartet formed in Surrey chose the name Camel. December 4, 1971 was the day of the band first performance as a support band of more famous Wishbone Ash.

In August of 1972, Camel signed the contract with MCA Records and by the end of 1973, the band released the debut album "Camel". [more]

Their self-titled debut was a quite rough and unpolished product, but it still featured the two first classic Camel-tracks with the beautiful "Mystic Queen" and the catchy "Never Let Go". Both tracks demonstrated the group's ability to write very strong vocal-melodies combined with lengthy and tasty instrumental-passages. "Never Let Go" also featured one of the few examples recorded of a mellotron-solo. "Separation" and the opener "Slow Yourself Down" are both harder rock tracks where the latter one is the most complex and progressive, featuring some excellent solos from Latimer and Bardens. There are also two pure instrumental-numbers here with the jazzy "Six Ate" and the energetic "Arubaluba". The energy on the latter one may sounds a bit forced, but it still demonstrated well what a tight unit Camel were. Overall, a promising, exciting and interesting debut.

This is something of a family album, co-credited to Paul Kantner and his wife, Grace Slick, and featuring on its cover a photograph of their infant daughter, China. It also features the family of San Francisco Bay Area musicians, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and other current members of Jefferson Airplane and future members of Jefferson Starship. Its style of loosely arranged acid rock music and radical left political lyrics is similar to such recent albums as the Kantner/Starship Blows Against the Empire (December 1970) and the Airplane's Bark (August 1971), which were made by most of the same players. But Kantner and Slick's usual stridency is not counterbalanced by substance as much as on earlier efforts, perhaps because they were making too many albums too quickly to keep up the quality of their songwriting. Still, anyone who enjoys the sweet-and-sour unison singing of X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka should listen to Sunfighter to see where they got it from. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

This compilation follows in the vein of many similar regional '60s garage/psych collections that surfaced towards the end of the 20th century, thanks to a combination of ever deeper interest in obscurities and the general proliferation of cheap CD runs for a small but obsessive market. Like the best of the bunch, from Nuggets on down, a combination of liner notes, photos, and general stories provides a good amount of the appeal. This particular disc focuses on bands from the Tidewater area of Virginia, named after three of the groups featured here. All are pretty well unknown outside of the occasional appearance on a similar comp or two, and generally speaking the performances are an obvious mix of derivative originals and good-spirited covers dedicated to raising a fun cheap racket, like so many other regional hits and misses of the era. So coming to this for revelations isn't at all a good idea, but listening in for the heck of it often turns up some rough and ready fun. The higher octane numbers make this a good party disc and the various ballads are sweet enough, and as the compilers are proud to say, it's different from the regional "beach music" that the area is known for. Wild Thing are probably the most notable of the bunch, not only for their mighty fine "Weird Hot Nights" (dig the crazed laughs on the breaks) but their utterly insane look of huge silver pompadours and general alien decadence. It must have taken sheer chutzpah to even think of a look like that in 1966. Another noteworthy cut is from the Electrical Banana -- it's a fair cover of "There She Goes Again" by the Velvet Underground that suddenly breaks into a peppy, kick-up-your-heels ending. Not only was it probably one of the first remakes of that band ever, the actual recording was done via a gas-generator powered deck in Vietnam, where bandleader Dean Kohler, veteran of the Satellites (also featured on this collection) had ended up to serve his tour of duty! ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Like the first compilation in this series, the focus of this collection of regional garage/psych singles from the '60s covers Virginia, in this case looking more at the north of the state, near the D.C. area and elsewhere. As with the predecessor, it's a fun labor of love -- besides packing the disc full of goodies, including a slew of never released cuts, the compilers have a lot of photos and band stories to offer. One statement says it all: "True fans want the human side, not just the sides on old 45s." There are a few numbers that cropped up elsewhere, but the liner notes promise cleaner transfers and indeed everything sounds pretty darn good throughout, given both the recording conditions and the need to transfer from vinyl at points. The general musical flavor remains pretty much the same -- there's nothing really deathless throughout the 25 songs on the compilation, but all the vaunted energy and good times ascribed to the American garage explosion has a fine echo here. Standouts include the nervy "Jump, Jack, Jump" by the Miller Brothers, with some just threatening enough vocals on the verses, and a fairly echoey but still excitable enough take on the Yardbirds' "You're a Better Man Than I" by the Nite Beats. There are a lot of numbers that were clearly designed first and foremost for the local dances and gigs just about all these bands thrived on -- the Live Wires' "Scrambled Eggs" and the murkily recorded but still sharp "Let Me Take You Down" by the Uprisers are two good examples. Two brothers, Larry and Stanley Burnell, crop up in a number of bands and as producers along the way -- being a pretty good rhythm section obviously made their services in demand! ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

The third installment of Arcania International's exhaustive overview of Tidewater/Richmond Virginia garage and psych from the mid-'60s is chock-full of bands that -- well -- no one has ever heard of. Like the folks at specialty labels like Gear Fab and Norton, Arcania recognizes the appeal of unknown, unsigned bands from yesteryear. And though much of this material is extremely lo-fi (Velvet Haze's fuzz-drenched "Last Day on Earth") and amateurish (Banana's disastrous "I'm a Man"), there are several gems to be found. Some tunes, like Wilson Castle's "Party" and The Bosom Blues Band's "Hippie Queen" reveal legitimately sincere attempts at musical sophistication, posing the question; what could some of these bands have accomplished with a skilled producer and first-class recording gear? The surprisingly good CSN&Y-soundalike psych-ballad, "Cherry Road," by a band called Plauge is just another fine example of this. What is, perhaps, most interesting about these bands, though, is to hear their imitation of the more popular sounds of the day. Shades of the Animals, Yardbirds, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly, and the Byrds are clearly evident. And while this collection proves that a fuzz box in the wrong hands -- or at the wrong feet -- can be a room-emptying disaster, there is no denying the exuberance, innocence, and bittersweet naivete of rock's under-the-radar bands of the 1960s. Compilations such as this, however, are perhaps most interesting to the un-initiated as -- at best -- social anthropology. This is not for the average vintage rock enthusiast, but dive right in if you are looking for something slightly strange but surely fun. ~ John Duffy, All Music Guide

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Album Review It is said that finding someone who has actually listened to this album is harder than locating the rabbit hole that led Alice down into Wonderland. The '60s were indeed a wonderland in musical terms, especially when one got past the middle of the decade, at which point any recording artist with a contract was expected to create a deep, complex, and provocative masterpiece that could be compared to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is ironic that the entire second side of this late-period Chad & Jeremy album would be entitled "The Progress Suite," since for most listeners the music on this album hardly represented any kind of progress. This duo had been known for their beautiful harmonies and romantic, wistful music. Many a teenage couple had held hands to the sound of these British lads crooning the lines "Trees, swaying in the summer breeze." A case could be made that the efforts of Chad & Jeremy were just as important to the ambience of early-'60s radio as Mick Jagger and the lads, but the only kind of hands being held when it comes to Of Cabbages and Kings might be someone preventing someone else from putting it on. Yet it really isn't all that bad. True, it would be a lie of the first order to call it a masterpiece, which is often the temptation when a listener cradles the attractive cover in one's hand or thinks about what nice personalities these two performers seem to have. The biggest problem with the record is not that it aspires falsely toward greatness, but that the music composed by Jeremy Clyde and arranged and scored by Chad Stuart sadly lacks what is sometimes referred to in composition class as attractive melodic kernels. The writing tends to be drab and, worse, sounds like something one has heard thousands of times already. And this is really quite remarkable, considering the amount of trouble the artists went to gaudying it up with all manner of orchestral trickery, all professionally done and sounding crystal clear in the mixes. Chad Stuart might write "big deal" on the liner notes under his credit for playing a variety of string and keyboard instruments, but it is something of a big deal when the performer in question was thought of previously as "just" a cute guy with a good voice and cool glasses. He is talented, and took on much work putting together the arrangements throughout this album. The end result is similar to, for example, the music performed by the high school orchestra at the conclusion of the film Mr. Holland's Opus. Or it may remind some of a performance by their own high school orchestra doing an original composition by everyone's favorite professor. The influence of the Beatles is a bit much, as some of the music is almost directly lifted from "A Day in the Life" and "Eleanor Rigby." One might also want to blame the Indian music influence on the Fab Four as well, but other listeners may find Chad Stuart's use of sitar as a regular part of the orchestra diverting, and perhaps even more relaxed than the Beatles' own blotting up of classical Indian influences. The song material that enters off and on through the long suite has some effective moments, as well as showing the vocal timbre and harmony singing style that made this duo popular in the first place. There is also skilled use made of various sound effects and voices, none of which makes the material any less pretentious. The set of songs on the first side also doesn't slouch when it comes to ambition, mixing in a variety of pop music styles, including some heavy guitar. There is excellent bass playing throughout the record, sometimes pushed to the top of the mix. One of the songs is written by James William Guercio, a musically pompous character who went on to great success with Chicago -- the band, not the city. In summation, the album seems to make a case for tolerance; repeated listening with an open mind will reveal more substance here than might seem the case based on the type of quick dismissals this record often gets. But only an extremely tolerant individual, with lots of time on their hands, is going to bother. The 2002 CD reissue on Sundazed adds five bonus tracks, including the single versions of "Rest in Peace" and "Painted Dayglow Smile" (the latter of whose LP version appeared on the 1968 album The Ark, not Of Cabbages and Kings); the 1968 single "Sister Marie"; a previously unissued instrumental version of "The Gentle Cold of Dawn"; and the previously unissued Jeremy Clyde originals "Manners Maketh Man" and "Cautionary Tale," both recorded in September 1966, a few months before any of the material that made it onto Of Cabbages and Kings. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

Track listing:01) Down On Me (version 1)02) Flower In The Sun03) I Need A Man To Love04) Bye Bye Baby05) Easy Rider06) Combination Of The Two07) Farewell Song08) Piece Of My Heart09) Catch Me Daddy10) Magic Of Love11) Summertime12) Light Is Faster Than Sound13) Ball And Chain14) Down On Me (version 2) Big Brother mostly built their reputation on live shows, playing lots of venues in San Francisco and all over the States, so that they didn't even bother about recording their new material properly in the studio (Cheap Thrills mostly consists of live material). Therefore, this album can easily serve you as a good substitute for both of their original LP's, as well as for the later Farewell Song: practically all of Janis' big hits and lots of smaller, but none the less interesting tunes are included. The CD is actually a complete recording of their two shows played in Mid-April at Winterland, San Francisco, with everything to recommend it and practically nothing to despise about it. The sound quality is quite tolerable, maybe even excellent at times. The only possible pick is that there are two versions of 'Down On Me' on here - opening and closing the album; but this, together with all the stage banter, even the most boring bits of it, being preserved, only confirms the idea that both of the sets are included in their completeness - a thing rarely cared about by record companies.

Chronologically, this is the band's next album after the self-titled one, and it's really important, because this is the era when Janis finally made the ultimate transgression and got completely loose on stage. Both shows are rather short, with seven songs in each performance, but it's fairly obvious every such show had to leave the poor girl completely exhausted, and not just because it was hard to get her lungs overcome the double guitar distortion, of course. This is where Janis becomes the unstoppable live monster, the 'give-it-yer-all' epiphany of American rock, together with Hendrix.

I was surprised to learn that this magnificent CD, one of the best retrospective releases of the mid-1990s, is still in print. Apparently a second run was made for a licensing deal which then fell through, leaving the good people at Epilogue with a big stack of CDs for a release that had already run its course on the home market. The good news is that 8 years down the line a new generation of heads have an equal opportunity to jump into this exhilarating roller coaster ride of west coast-style guitarpsych at its finest. TRUTH is one of the more obscure twigs on the amazingly vast tree that grew out of a 1964 Belfast hoodlum r'n'b act first (and last) known as Them. You've heard the great Van-era recordings, the even greater Belfast Gypsies recordings, the inconsistent but occasionally brilliant Texas-era recordings -- but prior to this CD you're unlikely to have heard this Chicago-based franchise, featuring guitarist Jim Armstrong and vocalist Kenny McDowell from the Belfast/Texas incarnations of the band, lured back to the US by a music biz impresario circa 1969. The ex-Themers teamed up with two local musicians and Truth was born, rehearsing like crazy and playing local Windy City gigs with some success. I'll refer to John Berg's very detailed liner notes for the full story and move on to the music. The bulk of the 14 songs contained on the CD are 1969 recordings made for a movie titled "College For Fun And Profit" in which the band can actually be spotted in one scene. The remaining tunes come from a 3-track acetate recorded for a prospective Epic LP that never happened. According to Jim Armstrong "Truth was the best band I ever played in. There was no pulling in different directions". It's not hard to believe him, because that's what Truth sounds like -- skillful musicians delivering music that radiates warmth, harmony and synchronization. If this sounds a bit like vintage Grateful Dead then all the better, because there is a distinct similarity between the Dead of, say, "China cat sunflower", and the airy, good-natured guitarpsych of Truth. Not much is said about the band's influences in the liner notes but if I were to define them in terms of a pin placed on a wall-map of the USA, the spot would be Highway 1 halfway between LA and the Bay Area. There is already a pin there, marked Stalk-Forrest Group, and apart from the Dead that's one band that Truth remind me of. Impressive credentials for sure, but Truth needn't be embarrassed in this company, because their music is faultless and at its best outright stunning. So very few bands manage to play music that allows space for the members full range of versatility without degrading into prog or fusion; Truth manage to do so and still deliver melodic, open-ended music. The opening "Music is life" is a program declaration as good as any; complex rhythms and bold chord shifts, yet as inviting as a Byrds 45 with McDowell's joyful vocals setting the tone for all that follows. "6 O'Clock Alarm" is your standard white-collar grind lament except with a 5-minute Garcia/Lesh-style jam in the middle, before the vocals pull you back to planet Earth. I have to refrain myself from describing every track in detail but all of it progresses along the superb '69 Dead/Stalk-Forrest axis described above; an exquisite sitar track adds a foreign flavor, while the 10-minute revisit to the Texan Them's "Square room" shows just how good raga rock can be if done with serious intentions -- like a sequel to "East-West" by the Butterfields 3 years earlier. There is another great track called simply "HIGH!" which is how you feel when hearing it, and a take on "Circle round the sun" that suits the band very well. The CD closes with the 3 tracks off the aforementioned acetate, and they're just as swell, bringing in organ and flute and a slight British influence (think Traffic) to produce one of the very best tracks on the entire CD, the powerful "Castles in the sand" that is likely to blow anyone's head off. There is some very minor surface noise on the acetate tracks while the earlier recordings are crystal clear and can be played loud as fuck! Most of the unreleased 1960s-70s stuff that appears is disappointing and shows mainly why it wasn't released in the first place, but this Truth CD is the perfect antithesis of that cynicism -- just like Stalk-Forrest Group it's better than almost anything that WAS released at the time. from lama reviews

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

This series full of independent newcomer-bands from all over the world, with one foot in the 60's and the other in the year 2000. A tribute to a cult that refuses to die. Cover artwork has been drawn by RUDI 'ACTION' PROTRUDI of the 'fabulous' FUZZTONES; the first eleven releases show you a typical drive-in movie theater in the usa out of the best days of rock 'n' roll, the second TEEN TRASH cover will scare you with a monstereous cover out of the best days of 50's B-movies.My aim is to support all those local new acts, so they are able to present some vinyl or CD's to a much wider audience, than just the area where they come from. please find below a listing of all available TEEN TRASH products so far, hopefully to be continued..........

[ Strange enchanting dreamy acoustic custom of slow melodic tunes sleepily adrift in a hazy stereo-echoed blur of ethereal guitar work and sedated vocals, heavy on the lost loner “real people” vibes. Bixby’s story is detailed on the back cover – how he destroyed his life with substance abuse (recounted in ‘Drug Song’), cried out to God for his sanity, and eventually received a testimony of Jesus Christ. Ode To Quetzalcoatl contains twelve of his post-conversion songs, featuring titles like ‘Free Indeed’, ‘I Have Seen Him’, ‘Morning Sun’, ‘Open Doors’, ‘666’ and ‘Waiting For The Rains’. Occasional cosmic weirdity in the lyrics, as on ‘Prayer’ (“pick out a cloud, and speak very loud, and that cloud will be yours forever”). Sometimes joined by a second guitar, plus onetime appearances of harmonica (‘Secret Forest’) and spacey flute (‘Peace’). The mysterious album title reference to the ancient Mexican serpent god isn’t explained anywhere, nor is it mentioned in any of the songs. Some highly unusual yet very captivating stuff here, guaranteed to make yourself ask “where is this guy coming from?”. -- Ken Scott, Archivist ]

I've been on a mild "'70s Jesus hippies" kick lately; there's the same post-apocalyptic comedown quality that's on all the folk records of the time, but some of the Jesus music is especially morose, not like today's "haha you blue-state pussies, WE WON (burrrrrrp)" cheerleaders for Team Goodbook. No, actually, with Bixby being a loner and all, it's not surprising that Quetzalcoatl is pretty solipsistic and self-absorbed -- if he were coming of age in the '80s instead, surely he'd be cutting his musical teeth doing covers of "Sanitarium" and "How Soon is Now?" at open mic nights.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

During the late 70's and early 80's while most bands were trying to ride the New Wave, Rochester New York's Chesterfield Kings set their own course into the past... destination 1966. Since their first single ("I Ain't No Miracle Worker" b/w "Exit 9" Living Eye Records, LSD-1), released in 1979 on their own Living Eye label, the Chesterfield Kings main objective has always been to record their own collectible garage 45's. With a repertoire recognized by only a handful of 60's garage-rock-fanatics, and by keeping the early pressings small (only 500 of the first single, a mere 50 of the third), the Kings not only have achieved their goal, but in the process became the pioneers of the then flourishing garage rock revival, and continue to this day to raise the bar on the once again reborn scene.

The first release was followed in 1981 by a track on Greg Shaw's Bomp Records compilation Battle of the Garage (1981Bomp Records). Walking away with the "Battle" crown the Kings traveled from Rochester, for what would be a series of dates at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City, where they would carve out their statue, educate the next crop of bands, and draw the praise of rock journalists and New York "hipsters" alike.

Derroll, like so many of the more technically gifted performers we booked, was introduced to us by Ian A. Anderson (it was only afterwards he told us an album was about to be released on his label - joke Ian honest!).He was born in Portland, Oregon on 27th November 1925.Derroll was first brought to Europe by Ramblin' Jack Elliott and his wife June in 1957. They toured together for four years before Elliott returned to the States leaving Derroll to fend for himself, something he did pretty well finally marrying Danny and settling in Antwerp.He was a man with style and presence reaching legend status in Europe with his unique banjo style. Meeting Pete Seeger after the war persuaded him to take up the banjo.

He was a friend of the stars including the Animals, Them, the Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Donovan. Baez indeed made his song 'Portland Town' famous. He appeared in Dylan's famed documentary 'Don't Look Back' in 1965.Our very own Allan Taylor wrote of Derroll: 'Though now over 70 years old, his opinions, his ideas and his street learned philosophy is as fresh and to a certain extent idealistic as a young man of twenty. He never lost sight of the dream that we all shared when we started out 'on the road'. Not for him fame or glory or money, just the joy of playing music and getting by.'Derroll Adams passed away on February 6, 2000 in Antwerp, Belgium. He remains unjustifiably better known in Europe than in the country of his birth. Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

"This guy is what i call troubadour and a great personallity. Not psychedelic, mostly southern banjo stuff but with great meanings."

The band known as the Stillroven began in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale, MN. It was 1965, and their original name was "the Syndicate," a name they thought should be changed when original guitarist Mark Moorhead left the band in 1966. The original lineup also consisted of bassist Rock Peterson, guitarist John Howarth, keyboardist Dave Dean, and drummer Phil Berdahl. When Moorhead left, they recruited Dan Kane to take his spot and changed their name, eventually recording "She's My Woman"/"(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" for Falcoln that year. There were only 50 copies printed for radio stations, but their next single was the first one that the public had access to. "Hey Joe"/"Sunny Day" was a hit in their hometown, but that was not enough for Peterson and Kane, who departed the same year. The band found a new bassist and guitarist in Dave Berget and Jim Larkin respectively, and soon was recording their next singles. "Little Picture Playhouse"/"Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stone" was hailed as a hallucinogenic masterpiece by garage rock enthusiasts, but the average music fan did not catch on to the regional popularity they enjoyed in Minneapolis. Their manager moved to Tucson, AZ, where he continued to guide their career from a distance. Larkin and Berget left the band as quickly as they came, being replaced by bassist Mike Flaherty and guitarist Mike O'Gara. They recorded a fourth single under this lineup, "Come in the Morning"/"Necessary Person," but after the first 100 copies printed there was enough internal dissension to have "Come in the Morning" pulled from the single and replaced with a cover of the Small Faces' "Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me." This would be the last release from the band, as they quietly broke up toward the end of 1968. A career retrospective, Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stillroven, was released in 1996 to appease garage band enthusiasts who had been waiting for more material from the group. The album included many unreleased songs, as well as a few tracks that were originally on compilations. Rumor has it that the band has an entire album recorded from 1968 that has never seen the light of day, and Sundazed Records has even promised a release of the album. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide